Device for treating textile fabrications on forms



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Filed March 30. 1940 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 3 DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICATIONS ON FORMS oet. 13, 1942,.

Oct. 13, 1942. w. M. scHwARTz 2,299,040

DEVICE FOR. TBEATLNG TEXTILE FABRIGVATIQNS N FORMS Filed March so, 1940` 17 shggts-sneet 4 Q Zwervr Rl K Maw/wiwi@ Oct. 13, '1942. 'w. M'. scHw'RTz 2,299,040

DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICATION oN FORMS' y Filed Marek so, 1940 lshaets-'shet 5 M11-mam oct. 13, 1942. w, M, SCHWARTZ 2,299,040

DEVICE FOR TREVATlNG TEXTILE FABRICTIONVS FQRMS Y Filed mmh so, 1940 17 sheets-$11991; s

Oct. 13, 1942,. w, M, SCHWARTZ 2,299,040

DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICATIOS 01W-FORMS Filed March 30, 1940 1'7 Sheets-Sheet '7 N Lym #wf/mam Oct. 13, 1942. w. M. scHwA'RTz 2,299,040

DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICATIONS N FORMS Filed March 50, 1940 1'7 Sheets-Sheet 8 Oct. 13, 1942. w, n, SCHWARTZ 2,299,040

DEVCE -FOR TREATING TEXT ILE FABR1CATIONS ON FORMSV Filed March 50, `1940 17 Sheets-Sheet 9 oct. 13, 1942.. w. M. scHwARTz 2,299,040

' DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRI-CTIQNS ON FORMS Filed-March so, 1940 17 Sheets-Shan 1o Ivwervrg I Oct. 13, 19142. w, MHSCHWARTZ 2,299,040

DEVICJ.` FOR IREATQNG TEXTILE FABRICATIONS QNFORMS Filed March so, 1940 17 :sheets-sheet 11 lll lllll DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICA'ITONS 0N FORMS Qct. 1'3,

r `w. M. SCHWARTZ DEvIcE Fon 'rREA'rIuG TEXTILE FABRICA-:Ions ou Fomas 17 sheets-sheet 13l OGL 13, 19.42 w. M. soHwAR-rz 2,299,040'

` DVICEFOV-TREATIVNG lTEXTILE FABRICATINs'pN Ponys Filed Max-o n sa, 19413 .ifi sheets-.sheet 151' Oct. 1942.

w. M. SCHWARTZ DEVICE' Fon TRE'I-NG TEx'p'ILE rABnIcATmN- 0N Fmfs' Filed Marlil',

Oct. 13, 1942. w; M, SCHWARTZ 2,299,040;

DEVI'E Fon TRETING TEXTILE FABRICATION'S i: rloma's- Filed March su, 1'940. 17 sheets-sheet 16' Oct. 13, 1942.

W. M. SCHWARTZ DEVICE FOR TREATING TEXTILE FABRICATONS ON FORMS 1'7 SheQts-Sheet 17- Filed March 30, 19,40

Patented Oct. 13, 1942 DEVICE FOR TREATIN G TEXTILE FABRI- CATIONS N FORMS Walter M. Schwartz, Philadelphia, Pa., assigner to Proctor & Schwartz, ncorporated, Philadelphia, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania Application March 30, 1940, Serial No. 327,086

Claims.

This invention relates to a machine for processing fabricated textile articles including hosiery and other items of wearing apparel, etc., to set the shapes of the articles. The present invention relates particularly to articles made of laments, threads, or yarns composed of what is known as Nylon.

Normally, silk, rayon or other hosiery in the grey, i. e. hosiery which has been knitted, looped, seamed, etc., and before it is dyed, boarded, and finished, is tied in loose bundles or placed loosely in mesh bags for dyeing in bulk, after which each stocking is dried and subsequently boarded, i. e., each stocking is placed on a form having the contour which the stocking is to attain during and subsequently retain after finishing. he boarded stockings 'are dried and finished on the shaping forms, with or without being moistened prior to ultimate drying on the forms.

A stocking composed of natural silk, rayon, or`

any of the other types of thread or yarn commonly used in the manufacture of hosiery, will retain the shape oi the form on which it is dried, after the stocking is removed from the form. However, a stocking made of Nylon when dyed, boarded, and iinished in the usual manner above noted, will not retain the shape of the finishing form or board. 'After a Nylon stocking is re-v moved from the board it returns almost immediately toa crumpled, disheveled, unshapely condition similar to that which it had while in thegrey, or before it was finished on the board.

It has been found that the above-noted reversion can be avoided by putting Nylon hosiery,

while in the grey or before regular boarding and 2 througha preliminary or preboarding process for setting the yarn libre or filament structure. This is done by placing the undyed or unfinished hosiery on forms similar to those on which the hosiery is placed for the regular finishing process, to give shape to the accid fabric prior to setting the yarn structure thereof.

'I'he above noted preliminary treatment or setting process is accomplished by exposing the form-supported Nylon stockings to heat, for a given period of time. The best results appear to be obtained by exposing the form-supported hosiery to live steam under a pressure, for example, of approximately ten pounds per square inch,

for a period of approximately live to ten minutes. After steaming, the hosiery is permitted to remain on the preliminary shaping or setting boards for a period of approximately live minutes, or upward, while exposed to normal atmospredetermined temperature and humidity to permit the hosiery to cool, dry and otherwise attain a handleable condition, before removing the stockings from the forms. It will be understood that the pressure and time figures etc. noted above are given merely as examples and are not to be considered absolute. Furthermores the character of the steam may vary from a dry condition to a rather wet condition. Steam of an intermediate moisture content appears to be preferable.

If the hosiery has been preboarded and set while in the grey, it is then removed from the preliminary setting boards, bundled or bagged in bulkl dyed, dried, then re-boardedand m'shed in the regular manner thereafter. Nylon hosiery, having undergone the preliminary setting, supra, before final boarding and nishing in the regular manner, will attain and retain the shape of the nishing form, and will havev a sleek, smooth-linished appearance `and condition comparable to nished hosiery composed of the usual materials.

If dyed before preboarding and` setting, the

- hosiery may be retained on the setting boards or forms and, after completion of the pre-setting operation, passed directly through the regular finishing process.

The present invention has to do with a machine for accomplishing the setting process.

` Prior to the present invention, a. machine known phere or to an articially created atmosphere of and used for the purpose consisted of a turret head rotatable about a vertical axis, with three radially projecting angularly spaced groups of forms respectively extending horizontally from the axis of the turret for intermittent movement to three different stations successively. At the first station, previously set hosiery was removed from one group of forms and new unprocessed hosiery placed hereon. The turret then moved the newly loaded group of forms to a second1 or setting, station, in alignment with a horizontal cylinder closed at its outer end and openat its inner end to receive'the newly loaded group of forms. By relative radial movement between the cylinder and the turret, the group of forms aligned with the vcylinder passed into the cylinder and a steam-tight joint was formed between the open end of the cylinder andthe turret head. Steam was admitted to the cylinderand maintained under a predetermined pressure therein for a given period of time. During this time the group of stocking-laden forms which vwas previously confined in the cylinder and which moved to the cooling station was permitted to stand at that station in the open, to cool, dry, etc., while the third group arrived and remained at the initiall or loading, station, for removal of the steamed, cooled and dried hosiery therefrom and the application of unprocessed hosiery thereto.

Upon completion of a period of elapsed time necessary for the operator to remove the processed hosiery from the forms at station one, or longer, the steam was exhausted from the cylinder at station two, the seal between the cylinder and the turret head was broken, and the group of forms in the cylinder was withdrawn therefrom. 'Ihe turret was then moved one step manually, to bring the newly processed group of hosiery to the third, or cooling, station, while a new group moved to the setting stationI two, in line with the cylinder, from the loading station, one, for a repeat of the cycle.

The above noted machine had many disadvantages, including excessive floor space requirements, ineflicient and inconvenient loading and unloading facilities, loss of time in making and breaking the steam-tight seal between the open end of the pressure cylinder and the turret head, and others of greater or lesser importance.

The object of the present invention is to construct a machine which will successfully replace the turret type machine and eliminate each and all of the faults of the turret-type machine, i. e. the object of the present invention is to reduce the oor space requirements, increase the capacity, provide eicient loading and unloading facilities, speed up the making and breaking of the steam chamber seal and correlate the various operations of the machine in a manner to reduce the time necessary to complete the processing cycle for a group of stockings to a minimum; whereby a manufacturer having a finishing plant of given hourly capacity for regular goods will be required to install but a minimum amount of additional equipment and employ but a minimum number of additional operators to eilect the presetting of Nylon hosiery in order to keep pace with the hourly capacity of his regular equipment.

The preferred embodiment of the present invention involves the use of a steaming chamber in the form of a bell or dome having its axis always disposed vertically with the bell arranged for perpendicular movement relative to a xed horizontal base, against the upper surface of which the rim of the open lower end of the bell is adapted to be seated and sealed for and during the steaming of a number of stockings respectively mounted on vertically disposed setting forms supported on said base within the bell shaped chamber.

Mechanism is provided for lowering the bell into swung contact'wimthe base and to raise the bell-shaped steaming chamber until the sealing rim thereof is spaced suillciently above the sealing surface of the base to permit one group of setting forms to be moved horizontally along the base from the steaming position within the area covered by the bell to a position external thereto, for loading and unloading, while another group of stocking-laden forms is moved from an correspondingly fixed position on the base in laterally spaced relation to the ilrst said group oi forms, in order that the bell may then be lowered into sealing contact with the base around the second group of forms.

In another modified form of the invention, two bells are used in axial alignment respectively with two groups of forms maintained in relatively xed laterally spaced relation to each other on the rigid base with the two bells counterbalancing each other for and in alternately moving the two from closed to open position and vice versa, or the two bells may be independently and relatively moved to and from the closed position. if desired.

In each of the above cases, one group of forms will preferably be enclosed by the bell-shaped steaming chamber for steaming the enclosed hosiery while a. second group of forms is positioned in the open for removal of the steamed stockings from the forms and the replacement of new unsteamed stockings thereon.

The constructions noted above enable the machinetobebuiltsoastooccupyandbeoperated within a minimum amount of iioor space.

In order to maintain the size of the bell at a minimum and to place a maximum number of forms in the bell of minimum diameter or crossectional area, the forms are preferably closely nested circumferentially about a common axis, and in order to facilitate the loading and unloading of the forms the forms are preferably mounted on a turntable type of carrier, with the axis of the turntable coaxial with the common axis of the group and adapted to be coaxially aligned with the axis of the bell when the group of forms supported by the turntable is confined within the bell.

In order to provide suflicient room to enable the operator to strip a stocking from a form and place another thereon, with the back seam, for example, of a full fashioned stocking in line with the back edge of the form, each form is carried by an individual arm which is pivotally mounted on the turntable. Mechanism is provided to openup the circumferential nesting of the forms at a given place in the rotation of turntable, at which the operator stands, so that two forms at opposite sides respectively of the operator's station lie in radially divergent relation to each other with another form in the clearing intermediate and substantially equidistant from the spread-apart forms, and each form is so mounted on its supporting arm that when it reaches the above noted clear position it may be rotated about its vertical axis to an extent approximately one hundred and eighty degrees.

The turntable is automatically rotated intermittently to bring the forms successively into the clear position for loading and unloading.

At a predetermined point in the rotation of the turntable carrying the group of forms being loaded and unloaded, the steam which has been passing into the bell then enclosing the other group of forms is automatically shut-ofi` and exhausted from the bell; then, at another subcequent point in the rotation of the turntable carrying the group of forms being loaded and unloaded, the bell is automatically raised to clear the one group and to receive the other group of forms, after which the bell is again lowered into sealing contact with the bue and the Steam turned on to process the stockings on the newly enclosed group of forms while the operator strips and reloads the forms of the group which have just been removed from the bell-shaped steaming chamber.

While in the steaming chamber, no rotation of the turntable carrier for the forms therein takes place. Mechanism is provided for automatically connecting the turntable of the group of forms when it is removed from the steaming chamber and for discontinuing rotation of the turntable when the last of the series of forms thereon has been stripped and reloaded.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of one form of apparatus constricted and operable in accordance with the principles of the present invention, with the upper portion of the bell tower omitted;

Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 2 2, Fig. l.;

Fig. 3 is an end elevation, with the upper portion of the bell in section;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged side elevation of the turn-l table truck in the loading and unloading position;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the structure shown in Fig. 4;

Fig. 6 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line 6 6, Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a sectional plan view taken on the line 'I l, Fig. 6, with the form-supporting arms removed from the turntable;

Fig. 8 is a View similar to Fig. 7 but showing the second turntable supporting truck in position under the pressure bell, with the latter in its elevated position;

Fig. 9 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 9 9, Fig. 8;

Fig. 10 is a sectional elevation of a detail. taken on the line I D II), Fig. 8 showing a resilient stop for the truck in the steam chamber;

Fig. 11 is a perspective view of a latch and stop for holding the truck stationary in the loading and unloading position;

Fig. 12 is a perspective view of one of the form supporting arms;

Fig. 13 is a perspective view of one of the form spacers which are rotatably carried by the form supporting arms and to which the forms are respectively secured;

Fig. 14 is an inverted perspective view showing part of a means for limiting rotation of each form relative to its supporting arm;

Fig. 15 is a diagrammatic plan view showing the relative locations of the various mechanical control devices of the machine;

Fig. 16 is a sectional elevation taken on the line I6 I6, Fig. 15;

Fig. 1'7 is a transverse sectional elevation taken on the line I1 I'I, Fig. 7;

Fig. 18 is a sectional elevation of one type of steam control mechanism that may be used in the present machine;

Fig. 19 is an elementary electrical diagram showing the electrical controls diagrammatically;

Figs. 20, 21 and 22 are a side elevation, plan, and end elevation respectively of a modified form using a pair of bell shaped pressure chambers operating in counterbalanced relation to each other, with the bells at all times axially aligned with a pair of turntable form-supports respectively;

Fig. 23 illustrates another modification using two bells operable separately or in counterbalanced relation to each other and provided with means for suctionally evacuating steam from either chamber and saving a portion thereof for use in the other chamber, if desired.

Fig. 24 illustrates another modification wherein the steam is evacuated and condensed;

Fig.. 25 illustrates another modification wherein the steam is condensed within the chamber itself;

Figs. 26, 27 and 28 respectively illustrate side, plan and end views of another modification using one pressure chamber and two turntables, with the pressure chamber arranged to be shifted from alignment with one into alignment with the other of the turntables;

Figs. 29, 30 and 31 are views similar to Figs. 26. 27 and.28 with power means for shifting the bell;

Figs. 32. 33 and 34 show another form with a counterweight for the bell;

Figs. 35 and 36, show another form using an electric overhead crane for operating the bell;

Figs. 37, 38 and 39 illustrate another form wherein the bell is mounted on a post between two turntables, to be swung laterally into alignment with either; and

Figs. 40, 4l and 42 illustrate another form where two bells of smaller compass are raised and lowered simultaneously relative to two series of forms respectively.

As shown in Figs. l, 2 and 3, the preferred form of machine comprises a rigid framework structure including a base I supported by pedestals 2, 2 which forms part of the framework. The framework also comprises a tower 3 composed of uprights 4, 4 and cross beams 5, 5 to which are secured bearings 6, 6 for rotatably supporting the upper ends respectively of vertically disposed screw threaded shafts 1, 1. Theflower ends of the screw shafts 1, 'I are rotatably mounted in the pedestals 2, 2 respectively.

Secured to the opposite ends respectively of a pressure equalizing yoke 8 are nuts 9, 9 which have threaded engagement with the screw shafts "I, I respectively, by which the bell-shaped pressure chamber II) is raised and lowered perpendicularly with respect to the base I, when the screw Y shafts are coordinately rotated simultaneously by worm gearing II in the pedestals 2 from a reversible motor I2.

The bell II) is connected to the yoke 8 (see Fig. 3) by a ball and socket joint of which one element, for example the ball I3, is secured to the yoke while the other element, the socket I4 in this instance, is secured to and at the axial center of the top closure I5 for the cylindrical bellshaped chamber I0, the lower end of which is provided with guide bearings I6, I6 which are secured to the bell I0 and are slidably mounted on nonthreaded portions I'I, I'I of the screw shafts 'I, I respectively to guide the rim of the bell into sealing contact with the base I.

The rim I8 of the lower open end of the bellshaped chamber III is provided with an annular groove I9 (see Fig. 9) for reception of a circular rib 20 formed on the upper substantially horizontal chamber closing surface 2| of the base I. A packing strip 22 is carried in the groove I9 to cooperate with the rib-20 to form a steam tight seal between the rim I8 of the chamber I0 and the rib 20 of the base I.`

As noted above, the chamber III is adapted to enclose a group or series 25 of individual stocking Vboards or forms 24, 24. 'Ihe forms of each series are normally nested around a common center X, as shown in Fig. 5. Each form` 24 is provided with a stem 26 (see Fig.l 6) which isr rotatably mounted in bearings 21 and 28 formed l on the outer end of a horizontal arm 3l. The 

